The Procreate app comes with a few palettes built in, and you can build your own with your favorite colors. I find it extremely useful to build color palettes before working on a piece. Why? With all the colors of the rainbow available it can get a bit messy and confusing to select a color each time you want to make a mark.

The vast array of colors and tones also means that your work can appear muddy or disjointed if you are not a color master. I love love love color (as you can tell by the name of this site) but I can have a problem choosing a palette if I don’t limit myself. I can get analysis paralysis or end up picking colors that don’t look great together. Luckily Procreate makes it possible to change colors later if you don’t like the ones you chose.

I have found that creating palettes in advance is a great way to work. There are many methods to choosing and building color palettes, here are a few favorite techniques and a step-by-step guide.

Find Great Color Palettes for Procreate

Here’s a step-by-step guide to adding a new color palette:

1. Open a new artwork in Procreate
2. Click on the circle in the upper right corner to open the colors (if your settings are right handed)
3. You will see a drop down menu – select “Palettes” in the lower right
4. Click the + sign at the top to open a new Untitled Palette (if you don’t see it, scroll through the palettes to find where it was placed)

5. Click “Untitled Palette” to change the name to something else

6. Click “Set Default”

7. Then click the type of color picker you prefer from the options at the bottom. I like “Classic”. You will see your empty palette at the bottom below the color picker

Now to add to your palette! You can select colors from the color picker and then click in an empty box to add them to the palette – or use one of the methods below for choosing colors. Read on!

• Select your favorite colors using the color picker and put them into a palette. Use the sliders or selection tools to choose colors you like and add them one by one to the palette’s empty squares.

• Look around your house and surroundings. Choose a color palette from a favorite article of clothing, a throw pillow, or even a bouquet of flowers. The easiest way to do this is to take a photo with your iPad, then import it into Procreate using Actions>Image>Insert a photo or Actions>Image>Take a photo.

Hold your finger or stylus over the spot of color to select it and then click in the little square of a new palette. Add all the colors, be sure to name it if you haven’t already, and you are done!

• Use a magazine image or picture from Pinterest as your color inspiration. Maybe you see an image of a sunset or a beautifully decorated interior, or even a fashion runway shot. Bring it into Procreate and make your own palette by using the above methods.

• Use a ready made color palette. Many websites create amazing palettes that are fabulous to use in artwork of all kinds. There are websites that allow you to compose your own palettes and other sites that share palettes inspired by photos or artwork. You can take a screenshot or download their color palette inspirations and add them to your Procreate palettes.

A few of my favorite sites include:

• Colorpalettes.net – lovely color schemes inspired by photos
• Colorhunt.co – simple four color palettes
• Coolors.co – color palette generating website, they also have an app
• Love Print Studio – amazing curated palettes inspired by artwork
• Colorlisa.com – simple color palettes taken from famous artist’s works like Chagall and Picasso

You can also check Pinterest for amazing color palettes and for images to inspire your own. Be sure to follow us on Pinterest too for lots of arty stuff.

Want to learn more about using Procreate including some amazing courses and tutorials? Check out our guide to Procreate Tips & Tricks!

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